Fining
The following
excerpt is from :
THE HOME WINEMAKERS
MANUAL
by Lum Eisenman
Chapter 14 Fining
and Fining Materials
For more information
on this topic, please click on the following
link: Fining Your Wine
"Fining
materials are used for the specific purpose
of removing something from wine. A wine might
be fined to remove unwanted color, haze, bitterness,
excessive astringency, off-flavors, unpleasant
odors, etc. Usually, the fining agent itself
is eliminated before the wine is bottled. Wine
has been made for thousands of years, and over
that lengthy period many different materials
have been used as wine fining agents. Each fining
material has different characteristics, so each
material must be evaluated carefully by the
winemaker.
Sometimes two
or more fining materials are needed to solve
a single wine defect. At other times, the winemaker
might be lucky and discover that a single fining
agent can eliminate multiple wine problems.
For example, a dark, murky, blush wine might
be fined with bentonite. A single application
of bentonite might (1) remove excessive protein
and make the wine "hot" stable. The
bentonite fining might also (2) improve the
clarity of the young wine and (3) remove a small
amount of the excess color.
Albumin (Egg-white)
Egg-whites are
often used to reduce astringency by removing
small quantities of phenolic materials from
red wines. Egg-whites have been used to fine
French Burgundy and Bordeaux wines for hundreds
of years, and this inexpensive protein material
is still used for fining high quality red wines.
Egg-whites are also used to "polish"
or clarify red wines to give added brilliance.
Egg-whites should not be used to clarify cloudy
wines. They are not beneficial when used in
cloudy wines, and excessive protein can cause
additional problems.
The whites from
one to four eggs are the usual quantities used
for a barrel (60 gallons) of wine. This is roughly
equivalent to 1/2 to 2 milliliters of egg albumin
per gallon of wine. A small pinch of table salt
should be added to a cup or so of warm water.
The egg-white should be separated from the yoke
carefully. One part egg-white should be mixed
with two parts salt water. The mixture should
be stirred thoroughly before being added to
the wine, but the mixture should not be beaten
to a stiff froth. Add the egg-white mixture
to the wine slowly and stir continuously. The
wine should be racked in a week or so.
Bentonite
Bentonite is
an extremely fine, clay-like material. It has
a negative electrical charge, and it is used
to remove positively charged particles from
wine. Bentonite is most commonly used to remove
excess protein from both white and blush wines.
It is also used for clarification fining of
white and blush wines, and sometimes bentonite
is effective in clearing hazy fruit wines.
A normal dose
is 1 to 2 grams of dry bentonite per gallon
of wine. However, it is often used at dose levels
that range from 1/2 to 4 grams per gallon. Bentonite
can strip desirable aromas from wine when used
in excessive amounts (more than 2 grams per
gallon), so bench testing should always be done.
Bentonite should be mixed with water and allowed
to stand for twenty-four hours before being
adding to the wine.
Bentonite can
be mixed easily in a blender. Put the required
amount of hot water in the blender, turn the
blender on, and slowly add the dry powder. When
the mixture is cool, place it in a refrigerator
and allow the bentonite mixture to hydrate for
at least 24 hours. Add the hydrated mixture
to the wine slowly and stir continuously. Bentonite
is a popular fining material, but it has a major
disadvantage. It produces large quantities of
lees, and the lees are light and fluffy. Wine
is difficult to rack off bentonite lees because
the lees are so light. "
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